24 Jan
Life in the shadow of a coal mine
BBC piece on the Ffos-y-Fran site in South Wales, the countries largest open cast coal mine, only 36 metres from some homes… see RAFF for more details.
23 Jan
Opencast mine ‘in breach of directive’ claim residents
OPPONENTS of a massive opencast mine now in operation have called on the European Parliament to investigate the Assembly Government’s refusal to revoke planning permission.
Members of the community group Residents Against Ffos-y-Fran (RAFF) claim the development, near Merthyr Tydfil, is in breach of a European directive governing environmental impacts because a proper assessment was not carried out.
A petition to the European Parliament written on behalf of the group by solicitor Paul Stookes states that, despite the planning permission not being revoked, the development is unlawful because the buffer zone separating it from surrounding properties is less than the 350 metres minimum recommended by the Assembly Government.
Mr Stookes claims that by not revoking planning permission, the Assembly Government is in breach of a European directive.
He said: “We consider that the opencast coal operations are contrary to the European principles of providing a high level of environmental protection to protect the health and safety of the local community by allowing significant noise and air pollution to arise.
“The Welsh and UK governments are stating on the one hand that they are committed to tackling climate change and to improving the quality of life of its communities, yet on the other allowing a highly polluting activity to continue.”
Last week the Assembly Government announced its decision to introduce a 500 metre buffer zone between residents and such developments.
Meanwhile residents living near the Ffos-y-Fran site are angry that the Assembly Government is only now commissioning an environmental impact study on the site to consider the effects of noise, dust and vibration.
Terry Evans, who lives 36 metres from the site, said: “They weren’t interested when we were raising these concerns at the time they granted planning permission. Now it seems they are happy to use us as guinea pigs.”
The Assembly Government said it had not been written to by the European Parliament or Commission about the Ffos-y-Fran petition.
Asked about the research it is commissioning, a spokesman said: “A considerable amount of data is being collected, by a number of organisations, and we want to take the opportunity to draw this together to reach some general conclusions.”
From Wales Online
